Editing Your Writing

You see, I never used to mind editing. Not at all. It was fun, but lately, I guess I could say in the last year, editing has become more of a chore. It's gotten to the point where I dread finishing a piece just because I know I'd have to edit it after.

I don't know how you go about editing but for me it's always been a mix of editing while writing and editing at the end.I know that the recommended way is to write a "vomit first draft" but it doesn't work for me. I have to edit while I write. Mind you, I don't edit too much during the writing process. Somewhere in between.I also don't edit after each chapter is written, which I know some do.

So maybe if I ask you, my fellow writers, how you edit your material, my current aversion of the editing process will subside.

Here goes:Do you edit chapter by chapter, in the middles of chapters or the whole thing?Do you print it all and work with a hard copy or are you monitor bound?Is your editing process different for shorts?Anything else you'd like to tell me?

25 comments:

As a rule, the only editing I do with the first draft is piddly stuff--moving commas, fixing typos, etc.--that I encounter when reading over whatever I wrote last. I do read over recent work because it helps me get back into the characters, plot, etc.

This time around, I did a couple of revisions of early chapters because, through brainstorming, I had taken the story in a different direction.

I know the plot is too convoluted. I know I haven't explained some things; over-explained others; there are pacing issues; etc., but I don't fix anything significant until the entire beasty is done.

Then I ignore it for a month or so. Next I print out the entire work and do a once over read. From there I get down to revisions, which usually entail significant hacking and slashing.

Then off to a critique group or writing partner. Then back and more hacking and slashing. Rinse, lather, repeat until I hate the work. Out to submission land.

In general my process isn't much different for short stories. It just takes less paper to print 'em out. :)

I do simple editing as I go. Mostly spelling and punctuation, though I occasionally go back and add or delete a paragraph or two to fit a new idea that comes up. I will also sometimes go back a page or two and rephrase a sentence if I suddenly think of a better way to say it.

After the first draft, I do my editing on paper. It's a lot easier for me to sit and mark up a paper copy with a red pen.

My biggest problem with editing is just getting started. Very early on, I took a couple of decent starts on short stories and turned them into toilet fodder by over-editing. I guess I still carry that trauma. Once I get started, I actually enjoy the process, because I know that I am making the story better.

Probably the most important thing I do is to critically examine my writing style in the abstract. I used to use lots of adverbs and qualifiers, junk language filler in my sentences. Since I've become aware how bad that stuff is,I try to exclude it from every sentence I write. I still have some problems with passive voice, but aside from that and the occasional typo, editing is a smoothie for me.

So, the hard part has been developing good writing habits. You know, those little things you get away with that you tell yourself you'll fix later--don't. I don't think it's good to edit as you go, but pre-writing edit. I just try to constantly be aware when I'm writing whether I'm using adverbs and too many qualifiers. I think I've got that down, so now I'll focus on less passive voice and more active verbage.

Otherwise, it's just a straight run. First draft is going to suck anyway right? I mean, it's never going to come out perfect on the first try. So just GO.

Where editing gets fun for me is really hammering the ideas and structure. You get to strengthen or add things to your ideas, make them as strong as you can. You also get to change the order of things if you don't like it.

I'm always unhappy with the execution of ideas, or the order of things, so rearranging that stuff during editing is the fun part for me.

It's actually the typos and language parts that are a bore for me. Not much you can do to get around that. Just do it. Try to make it fun by making sentences more active/lively. Use more metaphors or similes. Spruce it up.

The best part of editing is it's your 2nd (3rd, 4th, 5th) chance to make things cool. Let the perfectionist, the structuralist come out. Hammer those round pegs into square holes!

This time, I'm experimenting with interim editing. Previously, I wrote the complete first draft, then went back to edit.

I have always fixed a little thing here and there while writing. I don't consider that editing.

If I write the full first draft, I print the entire document to read it and make comments on it--obvious grammar or typo corrections, notes to myself about what I liked or didn't like. Then I start over with serious revisions.

Lately, I've been editing/revising in 30-80 page chunks (mostly because everything needs so very much work). Print them out, make revisions. Enter them in the computer. Work from there.

I use the same process whether I'm wearing shorts or sweatpants. Oh, you mean shorts...I don't know. I haven't written any shorts yet.

This process is in a constant state of flux. I'm still learning what works best for me.

redchurch - pre-writing edit - I love that. That's always good advice.You make, of course, excellent points, and each of us should concentrate on their weaknesses during the edit, add, character, tweak plot, improve langauge. Good stuff.

Oh, Jean, chunks! Of course, chunks. How did I not think of that??? Makes it so much less daunting when you don't feel doing it.Oh, and by the way, it's funny but I too use the same process whether I'm wearing shorts or sweatpants - amazing... D) lol

Thanks Anne, from chunks to stew... :)Yes, I know that most people say to leave it for a while, but it hasn't worked for me. Perhaps I'll try it this time.

I like to write everything out longhand first. That way, when I'm typing things up, it gives me a chance to do some quick editing.

The real edit comes after the whole thing is finished, though. First comes a printout that I go over, then comes the process of reading the whole thing aloud to make sure it sounds right. Actually, I've just started doing this second step over my last two pieces - I was sceptical before, but it's worked wonders. After that, I like to have it workshopped a bit, then it's time for another quick check.

The big thing for me, though, is to learn to leave it on the shelf for a longer period of time between the finish of writing and the start of editing.

Cavan, longhand???I mean, it sounds interesting, but... longhand??? :)I've actually tried longhand last month after my laptop broke down and I had no other computer. My progress was abysmall.Oh, and I know, I need to learn to leave it alone for a while as well.

Jean, I like your idea of one line chunks even better. At this rate it will take me ten times longer to edit than it had taken to write :)

rdl, I've heard from very good sources that editors have a tough life. Other than reading lots of crap, they also get lots of crap from the writers they work with. Please, I urge you to reconsider ;)

Paul, editin is when you spell editin right - LOL, that was funny!Yeah, I once went through an entire manuscript and took care of literally all the 'ly's. Boy, I was pissed I remember.

Trée, yup, Cavan has some good ideas. Always.(But then so do all of them :)

Darren, page by page? That's a new one. Hey, whatever works, right?Yes, reading aloud is important even if it does make other people in the household wonder if you've gone mad...

Okay I probably do everything they tell you you shouldn't do but...here's my editting process.

Write a chapter at a time. Normally my writing span last about chapter (sometimes more, if that's the case I keep writing). Usually though however I usually last about a chapter then I have to go and reread and rewrite, and I ALWAYS have a thought or scene to add and usually one to delete. I don't do much deleteing though. It's mainly filling in and adding and such.

And once I finish a chapter I usually end up going back over earlier chapters because the new changes have affected something in those earlier chapters so I need to at least address it.

Then when I'm FINALLY done with the novel, only then do I go back and start butchering the novel. You know getting rid of the stuff I don't need (even though I think I need it :))

Then it's another couple go arounds of cleaning it up making sure parts all flow...

So if you could the million revisions as I work...I have to update as I go. I know you're told to just write, but that's never worked for me.

Yes, many people do chapter at a time. I guess I actually tend to work more with scenes rather than chapters, and my editing takes similar form.Thanks Jennifer for that, oh, and btw, I rarely have any deleting to do. It's usually near perfect... yeah, right, I wish ;)

Melly,I do all my initial drafts on yellow lined paper. Guess I'm old fashioned in that sense. Once I've got a pretty good idea as to what I'm trying to write, I'll sit with Word and type out my first draft. Sometimes all I have to do is a few minor changes and corrections. Sometimes I'll spend a whole day on a paragraph or a sentence until I am satisfied I've created the desired effect. I know some people who swear by using an outline, but I tend to find that method too constricting. Scot